The year 2008 has entered the history of the company "Fima" as a year of extraordinary achievements, and a strong endorsement of that is the contract of the greatest scope to date, which was signed on 30th December, just before the beginning of the New Year. According to this contract the works for AB "Lithuanian Railways“ for more than 46 million euros will be performed by “Fima" along with the partner of Czech company “AŽD Prague" ("Fima" is the leader of the consortium). Over the next four years, the modernization of the so-called IX D corridor will be carried out by the experts of "Fima", i.e. the system of signalling and power supply of Kaunas station, the bypass Palemonas - Rokai - Jiesia and Kaunas - Kybartai line will be renewed.

"Any other engineering company of Lithuania has not won this extent of such project for the modernization in the history of the state contests so far, so we can say that "Fima" which has signed a contract for the implementation of this project, has created the precedent case in the history of the country modernization," - Mr Juknevičius, the General Director of company "Fima" has taken a pleasure.

The rail corridor IX D is one of the main rail arteries connecting Russia with the Kaliningrad region, and the reliability and security of the railway section will be improved by this important modernization, which is planned to be carried out by "Fima". A modern computerized system of the traffic control which will enable the traffic control center in Vilnius to control 8 railway stations, line sections and 33 level crossings, 110 km of power supply system equipment and to control the movements of trains is going to be introduced throughout Kaunas, Kybartai and the Kaliningrad railway section at the border with the Russian Federation.

"The system of the microprocessor traffic control, which will be installed by our company, is fully automatic. Currently, the only one section has a similar operating system in the Baltic countries, which has been installed by the company "Fima" together with a partner „Bombardier“. All other train control systems currently operating in the Baltic countries are being reconstructed now or it is being planned to reconstruct them, "- comments G. Juknevičius.
According to the General Director, during the implementation of this project a variety of specific works will have to be accomplished by the specialists as follows:

• the installation of the centralized traffic control of all the stations and line sections from Vilnius traffic control center;
• the installation of the computerized interlocking system including the possibility for local operation at all the train stations;
• the change of all the wayside signalling elements and the related cables with new ones;
• the building of terminals of computerized interlocking with remote control system at open lines;
• the installation of the reliable equipment for the detection of train location;
• the installation of staff warning systems which will warn the road personnel about the approaching trains by automatic and direct means at all the stations;
• the building of new diesel power station for automatic operation, by replacing the old diesel generators at all railway stations of the project;
• the security of the power supply for all newly installed signalling systems and control systems, etc.

All that matters is that the new modern traffic control technology will allow the speed of the modernized railway line to be increased up to 160 km / h.

The equipment of the microprocessor interlocking system for the engineering works of the installation carried out by "Fima" will be supplied by the company „AŽD Prague", an experienced manufacturer of the railway transport management systems.

The modernization of the railway corridor IX D is one of the priority projects stated in the Lithuanian national strategic plan of the railway transport development during 2005 - 2015. The above mentioned modernization project of railway sections is being implemented under the allocation programme of the EU Cohesion Fund for the period of 2007 - 2013.

The modernization of the rail corridor IX D is performed because the existing technology and recent infrastructure have reached the limits of their operation and today‘s requirements have not been met any longer.

The oneness of the Project: The value of the project is the highest during the entire history of the company "Fima" up to now, for which the works shall be carried out. This project is unique in its scope and the complexity of engineering solutions in Lithuania, besides that a considerable number of components and systems of installation is present in this project, the modernization works will be performed very broadly within the section of 94 km. A lot of specialists of different expertise will also be needed for the modernization, and who are provided with necessary certificates and licences to work on railways.